Development of a Commercial Arbitration Hub in the Middle East: Case Study -- the Ts Ate of Qatar Aida Maita Golden Gate University School of Law
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Golden Gate University School of Law GGU Law Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations Student Scholarship Summer 8-2013 Development of a Commercial Arbitration Hub in the Middle East: Case Study -- The tS ate of Qatar Aida Maita Golden Gate University School of Law Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/theses Part of the Commercial Law Commons, and the International Law Commons Recommended Citation Maita, Aida, "Development of a Commercial Arbitration Hub in the Middle East: Case Study -- The tS ate of Qatar" (2013). Theses and Dissertations. Paper 36. This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at GGU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of GGU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GOLDEN GATE UNIVERSITY THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION HUB IN THE MIDDLE EAST: CASE STUDY— THE STATE OF QATAR A DISSERTATIONSUBMITTED TO THE COMMITTEE OF INTERNATIONAL LEGAL STUDIES IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF SCIENTIAE JURIDICAE DOCTOR DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL LEGAL STUDIES BY Aida Maita UNIVERSITY OF THE PACIFIC MCGEORGE SCHOOL OF LAW (USA -CALIFORNIA) MASTER OF LAWS - LLM IN TRANSNATIONAL BUSINESS PRACTICE LEBANESE UNIVERSITY- FACULTY OF LAWS, POLITICAL & ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCES (LEBANON) BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN LAWS SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA August, 2013 DISSERTATION COMMITTEE PROFESSOR DR. CHRISTIAN N. OKEKE DOCTOR IN DE RECHTSGELEERDHEID (AMSTERDAM) PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL & COMPARATIVE LAW; DIRECTOR, L.L.M. AND S.J.D. PROGRAMS; DIRECTOR, SOMPONGSUCHARITKHULCENTER FOR ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL LEGAL STUDIES GOLDEN GATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW * * * PROFESSOR DR. BENEDETTA FAIDI DURAMY ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF LAW GOLDEN GATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW * * * PROFESSOR DR. ZAKIA AFRIN ADJUNCT PROFESSOR OF LAW GOLDEN GATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW ii TITLE Development of a Commercial Arbitration hub in the Middle East: Case Study – The State of Qatar iii DEDICATION To: My loving parents: Jamil and Hayat. iv EPIGRAPH Great progress was made when arbitration treaties were concluded in which the contracting powers pledged in advance to submit all conflicts to an arbitration court, treaties which not only specified the composition of the court, but also its procedure. --Ludwig Quidde v TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ............................................................................................................................ 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... 3 EDITORIAL METHOD ............................................................................................................. 5 ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER I - OVERVIEW OF THIS WORK ............................................................................................ 8 I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 8 II. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY ................................................................................................... 14 III. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS STUDY ............................................................................................. 15 IV. WHY THE STATE OF QATAR? .................................................................................................... 17 V. THE SCOPE AND LIMITS OF THIS STUDY ....................................................................................... 19 VI. THE METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................... 21 CHAPTER II – OVERVIEW OF ARBITRATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST ........................................................ 23 I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 23 II. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................ 26 A. The Oil Concession Cases of the 1950s .......................................................................... 28 1. The Case of Sheikh of Abu Dhabi vs. Petroleum Development ................................. 29 2. The Case of Ruler of Qatar v. International Marine Oil Co. Ltd. ................................ 30 3. The Case of Saudi Arabia v. Arab American Oil Co. (ARAMCO) ................................. 30 B. The Libyan Arbitration Cases ......................................................................................... 31 C. The Kuwaiti Arbitration Cases ......................................................................................... 32 1. The Case of Kuwait v. Sir Frederick Snow & Partners ................................................ 32 2. The Case of Aminoil v. Kuwait .................................................................................... 33 D. Modern Changes in Middle East Arbitration ................................................................. 33 III. MIDDLE EAST LEGAL SYSTEMS .................................................................................................. 37 IV. SHARI’A (ISLAMIC LAW) .......................................................................................................... 39 A. General Principles of Shari’a Law Relevant to Commerce ............................................. 41 B. Role of Shari'a in Commercial Arbitration ..................................................................... 42 V. LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR ARBITRATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST .......................................................... 44 A. Bahrain Statutory Law .................................................................................................... 46 B. The Egyptian Arbitration Law ......................................................................................... 49 C. The Law of Qatar ............................................................................................................ 52 D. United Arab Emirates (UAE)/Dubai ............................................................................... 53 VI. RECOGNIZING AND ENFORCING FOREIGN AWARDS IN THE MIDDLE EAST ......................................... 59 A. The New York Convention ............................................................................................. 60 B. The ICSID (Washington) Convention .............................................................................. 63 vi C. The Riyadh Convention .................................................................................................. 65 D. The Amman Convention ................................................................................................ 67 E. The GCC Convention ....................................................................................................... 69 VII. THE MAJOR ARBITRATION CENTERS .......................................................................................... 70 A. Cairo Regional Center for Int’l Arbitration (CRCICA) ...................................................... 71 B. Dubai Int’l Arbitration Center (DIAC) ............................................................................. 72 C. Dubai Int’l Financial Center and the London Court of Int’l Arbitration (DIFC – LCIA) .... 73 D. Bahrain Chamber for Dispute Resolution (BCDR-AAA) .................................................. 74 E. Qatar Int’l Court and Dispute Resolution Center (QICDRC) ........................................... 76 VIII. RECENT ARBITRATION DEVELOPMENTS .................................................................................... 77 A. The New Saudi Arabia Arbitration Law .......................................................................... 78 B. Draft of the UAE Federal Arbitration Law ...................................................................... 80 C. The Draft Iraq Arbitration Law ....................................................................................... 82 D. The Draft GCC Unified Arbitration Law .......................................................................... 83 IX. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................... 84 CHAPTER III – QATAR’S LEGAL ARBITRATION FRAMEWORK ............................................................... 87 I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 87 II. GEOGRAPHY AND DEMOGRAPHICS ............................................................................................. 88 III. QATAR’S LEGAL SYSTEM .......................................................................................................... 89 A. Tribal Law: Prior to 1871 ................................................................................................ 89 B. Shari’a Law: 1871–1916 ................................................................................................. 90 C. Dual Common and Shari’a Law: 1916-1971 ................................................................... 91 D. Dual Civil and Shari’a Law: 1971-2005 ........................................................................... 92 E. The Current Legal System